You Are the Only Exception
by oldmoviewatcher
Summary: A songfic with Paramore's "You Are the Only Exception."  One- shot.  Tiva.


**For the record, I don't own **_**The Only Exception **_**it belongs to Haley Williams and Paramore. **

Ziva turned on her radio. She had had a long day and music seemed to soothe her. The agent listened to the music until Haley Williams started to sing.

_When I was younger, I saw my daddy cry_

_And curse at the wind_

_He broke his own heart and I watched_

_As he tried to reassemble it_

As she listened to the words, Ziva's mind went back to when her mother died. She remembered Eli having the same look on his face when her mother left the first time. He was never the same after she and her sister came back with their mother. Then, when she died, her father lost all control. He became angry and could not seem to control his emotions for a while. Fourteen years later, her sister died, and for her it seemed, her father had no more emotion left.

_And my momma swore that_

_She would never let herself forget_

_And that was the day that I promised_

_I'd never sing of love if it does not exist_

A mental image of her mother's worn, sad, lonely face appeared to her. Ziva remembered when her mother left. Her father and her mother had been arguing for a while, and finally her mother was tired of him. The agent remembered asking her mother where she and her sister were going, but she knew even when she was little that what her mother was telling her was only part of what was really happening. From that day she would always remember that, in the words of Holly Golightly, "men were . . .fleas on rats."

_But darling, you are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

When the next words flooded through her stereo, memories flooded through her head. She could not stop replaying her first encounter with the man who she now worked with. From the day they met, she liked him, but she would never tell him. She knew though, he had something about him she liked and she knew, as was with anything, there is an exception to every rule and he was her's.

_Maybe I know, somewhere deep in my soul_

_That love never lasts_

_And we've got to find other ways to make it alone_

_Or keep a straight face_

Ziva knew from the beginning that if she ever wanted a relationship with the man who sat across from her, she would have to work on it. However, every time she wanted to, a conversation would always lead to petty, flirty banter. In her mind she knew there was nothing that would keep them together, not an undercover mission as married assassins or retrieving a witness in Paris. The only thing that arose out of the missions and cases they had were inside jokes. In a way, the jokes would always be their way of sharing memories, and even if their faces said one thing, their eyes said another. Sadly, they were both going to have to live with the fact they would never have each other.

_And I've always lived like this_

_Keeping a comfortable distance_

_And up until now I had sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness_

_Because none of it was ever worth the risk_

She knew she was being irrational about how to treat her partner, but she had been brought up to be distant from people, especially family. However, when he came to save her, Ziva knew she could not distance herself completely, and that part of her character would be something she would have to work on.

_But you are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

The same words as before flooded the stereo. By now, Ziva felt as if the song was actually telling her to give into the feelings she felt for her co- worker.

_I've got a tight grip on reality_

_But I can't let go of what's in front of me here_

_I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up_

_Leave me with some kind of proof, it's not a dream, oh_

She listened to the lines in the next verse glad her sanity was not gone. Ziva knew that the relationship she wanted to form could possibly change their whole dynamic and she was not sure if she could let it go just yet. What she also was unsure of was if she should start hinting she wanted more than friendship first, especially since she had no idea where he stood on the subject. What she was sure of was that if he did like her like she did him, she wanted proof, tangible proof. Ziva David did not want to be taken for granted again.

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

_And I'm on my way to believing_

_Oh, and I'm on my way to believing_

The same ideas flooded her mind as she listened to the chorus again. The last two lines though, sent a wave of realization throughout her body. Ziva knew now that she really did like him. If only she knew how to make him believe it too.

**Review!**


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